9 of This Year's Oscar-Nominated Films That Are Based on True Stories

The leads in this movie — Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, and Steve Carell — are such big names that we wouldn't blame you for forgetting all about the fact that it's based on the housing bubble that led to 2007's financial crisis. Not only is the movie based on real events, but it's an adaptation of Michael Lewis's book, which chronicled the crisis. The Big Short is nominated for best picture, best supporting actor (Christian Bale), and three other awards.

Alejandro González Iñárritu followed up Birdman with this Western based on Michael Punke's novel. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, a 19th century fur trapper whose team leaves him to die after he's mauled by a bear. He survives and sets out to exact revenge on his old pals. The film, up for a total of 13 awards (including best picture and best actor for DiCaprio), definitely fabricates parts of the story (Glass didn't have a son), but the bones of the real incident are there.

Director David O. Russell again teamed up with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper for this biopic about Joy Mangano (played by Lawrence, who is nominated for best actress), the inventor of the Miracle Mop. The single mother of three balanced college and several jobs throughout the '80s, and in 1990, she developed the mop. Her business took off when she regularly began selling her product on QVC, and within a few years, she was a millionaire.

Named after their 1988 hit track, rap group N.W.A. takes center stage in Straight Outta Compton, which is nominated for best original screenplay. Original members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre produced the movie, which remained pretty true to how things really went down when the group formed in 1986. Fun fact: Ice Cube's son, O'Shea Jackson Jr., played him in the movie.

It hasn't been too long since Steve Jobs passed away, but this is already the second movie about his life. Michael Fassbender (nominated for his role) plays Jobs in this iteration, which not only focuses on his professional rise to fame, but the struggles within his personal life. Kate Winslet (also nominated), Seth Rogen, and Jeff Daniels all appear.

Steven Spielberg directed this drama based on the story of an ordinary insurance lawyer who is sent to negotiate the release of a US prisoner of war during the Cold War. Tom Hanks plays the lead, alongside Amy Ryan as his concerned wife. Mark Rylance was nominated for best supporting actor, and the film is up for best picture.

Bryan Cranston plays Dalton Trumbo in this drama about Hollywood's blacklisted writers of the 1940s. Trumbo, who wrote screenplays for films like Spartacus and Roman Holiday, was just one of the many insiders who were imprisoned because of supposed Communist ties. Cranston is up for a best actor trophy.

Eddie Redmayne is stunning in The Danish Girl, in which he plays Lili Elbe, the first woman to successfully undergo sexual reassignment surgery. The movie revolves around how Lili's relationship with her wife (Alicia Vikander) evolves along with her transformation. Both leads are nominated, along with the film's production and costume designers.

If you're willing to take on something incredibly heavy, you might want to check out Spotlight, the story of the journalists who uncovered the massive history of molestation within the Catholic Church in 2003. Rachel McAdams, Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, and Liev Schreiber all star in the film as reporters from The Boston Globe. It's up for six awards, including best picture, best director, best supporting actress for McAdams, and best supporting actor for Ruffalo.